Top leaders of thought from the Ijaw ethnic nationality on Tuesday converged on Kiagbodo, the country home of the Ijaw National leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to take a definite position on the raging call to restructure the country.
The meeting had in attendance Clark, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, the Deputy Governor òf Delta State, Mr. Kingsley Otuaro, a former Minister of Aviation, Alabo Graham Douglas, a former Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Broderick Bozimo, National Assembly members, traditional rulers and others.
Briefing journalists after the meeting which lasted four hours, Dickson, said that the leaders took a critical look at the issue of restructuring and took further steps to reaffirm their position that restructuring was a matter of survival to the Ijaw people.
Dickson said in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, that it was the position of the meeting that “the next election is going to be a referendum on restructuring because it affects the well-being and survival of our people. We will be with candidates who are genuinely committed to this issue of restructuring.”
Dickson added that the leaders also commended the work of the All Progressives Congress Committee on Restructuring led by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, which made far reaching recommendations on the burning issue of restructuring in the country.
The leaders called on the APC and indeed President Muhamnadu Buhari to show the requisite courage to ensure the implementation of the committee’s report before 2019 as a test of their sincerity.
The governor said that the leaders urged Buhari to show statesmanship and the courage to commence a process of legislation to implement the party’s position on restructuring.
He said that the meeting also set up a high-powered committee on the issue of restructuring and the report of the APC Committee on Restructuring.
The committee, which has five representatives each from the three zones to which the Ijaw Nation is divided — the West, the Central and the East, has three weeks to submit its reports.
Clark, who also spoke shortly after the meeting, stressed that restructuring was beyond politicking.
He insisted that any presidential candidate who was opposed to restructuring would face rejection in Ijaw land during the election.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: theeditor@punchng.com
Source: Punch
We appreciate you for reading our post, but we think it will be better you like our facebook fanpage and also follow us on twitter below.